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By Dr. Haytham Mouzahem
BEIRUT – Lebanon witnessed in 2013 series of car bombs and assassinations that reflected internal divisions over the Syrian crisis and a spillover of the Syrian sectarian war into neighboring Lebanon. These attacks have demonstrated the rise of hatred and sectarian rhetoric against Shi’a among some Sunni Salafi Lebanese and Palestinian youth in Lebanon.
On December 27, 2013, former Lebanese Finance Minister Mohammed Chatah was killed in a car bomb. Chatah was an adviser to the former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, leader of the Future Movement and the March 14 coalition. Hariri and the March 14 coalition have accused Syria and Lebanese Shi’a Hezbollah of being behind the assassination.
Only six days following the explosion that killed Chatah, a suicide car bomber hit on January 2 in the heart of Beirut’s southern suburb, also Hezbollah’s stronghold, killing four civilians and wounding about 77 others. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a branch of Al-Qaed…

Head of Beirut Center for Middle East Studies, researcher and analyst specialized in Islamic and Middle East affairs. Executive director and editor in chief of The Levant News (www.the-levant.com) and Shujun Arabiyaa websites (www.arabiyaa.com)